


Go Places

by sonicshambles



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Doctor Who Series 9, F/M, Missing Scenes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-16
Updated: 2015-10-26
Packaged: 2018-04-26 14:31:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5008387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonicshambles/pseuds/sonicshambles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An exploration of what happens between episodes, starting with Last Christmas, and how Twelve and Clara enter into a romantic relationship.<br/>This is being written as the season airs and while the events of the episodes will serve as a framework I won't follow the exact same course as the show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. For The Glue To Dry On Our New Creation

**Author's Note:**

> Writing as something airs is a very new experience for me but I'm very excited about it! My plan is to post between 1-2 chapters a week and the first five are already written. Since this starts immediately post Last Christmas the episodes referenced in a chapter will have aired at least two weeks before that chapter is posted. 
> 
> The entire work is Rated M but Chapters 1-4 are rated Gen.
> 
> Title is from the New Pornographer's song Go Places and the titles of each chapter are lyrics from the song.

There are some things even the best dream can't capture. In dreams sounds are too muted, smells indistinct, and even the places you know best always look different. Clara dreamt of the TARDIS and the man who piloted her every night since the day she last saw the Doctor and every night she convinced herself it was just as good as the real thing. No matter how dim that beloved whooshing sound was or how it always seemed if she tried to focus too hard on the Doctor's face the rest of him would go fuzzy, it was still something. It was a spark to warm that part of her that couldn't be by work and all the people in her life who tried to help her recover a loss they only knew in part. The cold, lonely feeling of waking up in her bed in London on Earth to face another day without it all was only bearable by the fact that the Doctor was finally home on Gallifrey and hopefully at peace. His dream had come true. 

On that fateful Christmas when Santa gave her the gift of her dream coming true she had no time to process that fact before she stood in the real TARDIS with the Doctor at her side. Everything her eyes landed on looked like the greatest Christmas gift ever given and she strained to take it all in. Clara felt the Doctor watching her but he said nothing and made no move to rush her along. It was only when she saw him move towards the center of the room the she began to walk. She wandered as if still in a dream and her hands touched everything they came across, greedy to feel it and connect her body to the surroundings. The cool metal of the railings and the wall, the worn leather of the books on the shelves, and the smooth surface of the chalkboard were inventoried by her finger tips as they traced long lines on everything they touched. It all felt exactly the same but nothing made her heart sing home like the whoosh sound that filled her ears. She closed her eyes and felt herself being watched. The wave of warmth that enveloped her when a smile broke out across her face was probably imagined but it made her smile wider all the same. She skipped down the staircase to join the Doctor and it was then she felt the cold floor beneath her bare feet. A glance down reminded her she was barefoot and wearing nothing but her nightdress. It seemed so much like that moment in a dream when you realize you are having one Clara panicked and pinched herself hard on her left arm.

"Ow."

"Clara?"

The Doctor turned to her with a startled look but the sound of her name coming from him was all she could concentrate on. She never loved the sound of it more and it filled her wth such sudden and intense happiness that she pinched herself again to make sure this was real.

"OW."

He moved so quickly Clara didn't notice until he gently pinned her arms to her side. All she saw was him. There was a special feeling she only experienced when they stood this close and no dream could ever feel as good. Clara closed the gap between them by a half inch and when the Doctor didn't push away she moved even closer. In that moment it amazed her she stayed away so long.

His grip on her loosened and she took advantage of that by lifting her hands up to curl around his arms.

"Clara, are you alright?"

She slowly nodded. "I just needed to make sure I wasn't dreaming again. I'm not, right?"

The Doctor smiled. It was that wide smile that reached his eyes she'd only seen a handful of times. "You're not."

To reach up and cup his face was a risky move. Past experiences taught her that touching was to only be done on the rarest of occasions and that he'd held her hand and let her kiss his cheek already that evening was more than she was used to getting away with. But her hands couldn't help themselves and she pressed them against his cheeks to feel the way his happiness rearranged the shape of his face. Clara only kept them there a moment before she stepped back and looked down at herself. 

"I have this dream a lot. I show up somewhere underdressed."

His gaze started at Clara's feet and worked slowly up to her face and cheeks that were slightly pinker from his scrutiny. 

"How do you know you are? I haven't said where we're going. You could be dressed perfectly."

Her eyebrows raised. "Really? Because you've taken me all over the universe, Doctor, and you've never taken me anywhere I could just wear a nightdress."

Her raised eyebrows were met with one of his and he leaned against the control panel in his 'I have the upper hand' pose. "Were you not wearing at that the North Pole? And surely you're not wearing just a nightdress."

"Dream. And that is - never mind. So where are we going?"

Clara folded her arms in front of her and smiled. It was too much to hope their entire reunion would be blissful and she couldn't deny that she didn't miss their back and forth but she was not going to debate him over her current state of dress. 

"Do you want to go back to your flat and change?"

They shared a habit of walking as they talked and the gap between them was half the room's length but Clara rushed to him and pressed her hand to his hearts. 

"No. No going back. Not -" The ever got caught in her throat and she took a deep breath. "- now."

The Doctor removed her hand and spun her to her right. "In case you forgot the wardrobe room is that way. Do you remember the sequence of turns?"

"Of course!" She hoped. 

He shot her a look of vague disbelief. "Don't get lost in there either. There's nothing new since the last time you spent a whole day playing dress up."

She smiled at the memory before something else distracted her. "So...no one has been poking around since me?"

The Doctor's hands glided across the controls. "Poking around?"

"You know. Anyone else been here? Needed the wardrobe? Helped you out with anything?"

The attempt at casual tone was a failure by the word know. Clara knew this by the very quiet and gentle way the Doctor spoke his next words.

"No, Clara."

She nodded and exited, not at all sure she was headed in the right direction until she stood inside the wardrobe room. 

Much later she was still there so it wasn't a surprise when the Doctor came to find her. 

"What did I say about playing dress up? I have a whole adventure planned that involves us actually stepping outside the TARDIS."

In truth Clara held in her hands the very first item of clothing she picked up. It caught her eye almost immediately and just as quickly distracted her from her mission. She remembered how perfectly it hugged her body and made her feel beautiful but even deeper she remembered how it felt when she decided to stay and how all her joy was mixed with dread and guilt over the lies. This time was already better and she vowed right then to make the most of every second of it. 

Once in front of her the Doctor looked down at what she held. 

"It wasn't part of the plan but there is a new Orient Express booking reservations. They're actually marketing themselves as 100% Mummy Free. We could go if you'd like."

The idea briefly tempted her and she hugged the dress against her chest even as she shook her head. "No. Let's go somewhere new. No going backwards. I'd love to wear this dress again but not right now."

The Doctor nodded and looked at a spot on the floor just left of her feet. "It was a very suitable dress on you."

Suitable from him was a much larger compliment than Clara was used to and she was embarrassed to feel her cheeks growing warm. "Right. I'm actually glad you're here because I need some hint of where we're going. My favorite Victorian attire won't work in the jungles of whatever planet you'll convince me is perfectly safe."

"Have you ever seen two sun sets? We can go from there. Sensible shoes, dress for warm temperatures, and I don't need to convince you it's safe. Been there dozens of times, never run into a single problem."

Clara laughed. "I can't wait to see just how badly you're lying to me right now."

"No lies, Clara. This is our second chance."

"So?"

She caught a glimpse of his smile before he leaned in to talk directly into her ear. "Very sensible shoes. There's a few people we may need to run away from."

"Best get us there then."

Clara reverently placed the dress down in a spot she knew she'd remember and by the time the Doctor exited the room she already picked out shoes and pants with an idea of what shirt to wear. She entered the control room just as the Doctor powered down the engine. 

"Are you ready?"

Clara answered with a smile so large it hurt her face as she took his and and pulled him towards the door.


	2. Come Head On, Full Circle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clara goes for a swim and discusses a more permanent living arrangement on the TARDIS with the Doctor.
> 
> Set several weeks before the events of The Magician's Apprentice.

Four days stuck on a ice planet equaled a long afternoon spent swimming in the TARDIS pool with the ceiling set to extra sunny. It would have been followed by a long evening of the same if the straps on Clara's bikini top hadn't broke. Her immediate solution was to take it off along with the bottoms and continue on. This ended up being exactly what she needed because the too cold for too long feeling still clung to her and the warm water against her bare skin felt amazing. After a few more laps she switched from swimming to floating with her limbs spread out and her every muscle and thought deeply relaxed. This was a situation she could used to. In fact she was quite resolved to stay just like that forever. No one needed her as much as she needed the pool. Her students would be fine. The universe would be fine. The Doctor would be -

"CLARA!"

It was the loud noise that spooked her, not the presence of the Doctor. It caused her to twist so abruptly into a standing position that she slipped under the water with her mouth wide open. She surfaced quickly and worked to expel all the liquid from her lungs.

"Clara, are you aware that you are naked?"

She answered first with several loud coughs. "That's what's concerning you right now? Not that you almost killed me?"

"I was only trying to warn you in case you hadn't noticed. I was under the impression that you lot are generally very sensitive about being found like that."

Clara ignored the Doctor until she was able to take a deep breath in and out. 

"You've seen me naked before."

"That was -"

"A much more recent memory for me than you, I know. Sorry to offend you."

He glared down at her. It was the first time he looked at her since she surfaced and out of sheer stubbornness towards the idea that this situation was not awkward for her, Clara made sure to stand up just enough for the tops of her breasts to be above water. 

"I'm not offended, Clara. I am trying to explain to you how this would be uncomfortable for you."

"I am quite comfortable, Doctor. You should join me, the temperature is perfect right now."

In the both the literal and figurative sense Clara was quite comfortable. In the months since Christmas Clara reached a level of comfort with her life and with the Doctor she never thought possible. Each day and the adventures it contained brought with it a strengthened sense of empowerment. She felt herself move and act with less hesitation and more confidence. It transferred to situations like this like in which she was not going to feel any shame for having been found in a very comfortable state.

The Doctor continued to look at her as if she wasn't understanding anything that was going on and needed it all very carefully explained to her.

"I hate swimming."

"Why do you have a pool?"

"It wasn't my idea."

Clara was used to hints like that very rarely leading to the full story. The Doctor needed to be in a certain sort of mood to reminisce about those that came before her and she never knew if he was in that mood until she pressed him for more details. But he'd clearly found her to tell her something more presently important so she filed it away for another time. 

"Did you need me for something? I mean other than a conversation on nudity."

No longer relaxed or as cocooned by the warmth of the water as she wanted to be, Clara decided pool time was over. While she waited for the Doctor's answer she started to walk towards the ladder. 

"The TARDIS is fully defrosted so we don't have to stay here. I was checking to see if you've decided yet if it will be the French revolution of 1789 or 3089 next."

The part of her still stuck on proving her comfort level with her current state of undress compelled Clara to exit the pool on the opposite side from where her towel was. With her back to the Doctor she started to slowly walk around the pool. The cool air on her wet skin made it prickle but she kept her arms proudly at her sides. 

"Could we stop in London 2015 first so I can grab another bathing suit from my flat? Then 3089, I think. I'm starting to slip up too much around my students when it comes to history they are aware of or would be aware of if they did even half of the reading assigned to them." Clara was too distracted by squeezing the water out of her hair to look up at the Doctor when she rounded the pool corner and started to walk towards him. "Of course it's getting harder to sound convincing about the importance of reading textbooks now that I know how much they get wrong."

With only a couple feet between her and her towel Clara finally looked up. She instantly locked eyes with the Doctor and the look she saw in his eyes left her struggling for air even more than swallowing pool water had. The question of whether Clara ever wanted the Doctor to look at her like that was one thing. She knew she did and that every day she wanted it more. It was a plain and simple truth she kept buried under all the reasons why she shouldn't, one of which was that up until that moment she was convinced he never would and that he didn't even know how to. Last week they visited a remote planet just to view a waterfall the Doctor described as the most beautiful wonder of nature he'd ever seen. Clara found herself looking at him more than the waterfall, transfixed by how full of adoration and appreciation his eyes were. That look was a small fraction of what she presently saw in them. 

What had been a battle of wills very quickly became standing naked in front of a man for the first time in a very long time. It overwhelmed her and she stumbled towards her towel, quickly wrapping it around herself. When she looked up again the Doctor's face was transformed into a mask of calm detachment. He cleared his throat and resumed their conversation as if nothing else transpired.

"You should make a list of everything you need from your flat. I'm not making a return trip every time you forget your favorite red pen."

As they walked towards the corridor Clara checked her towel for any signs of slipping. Still rattled by what just happened she struggled to keep her voice light and calm. "That was one time and only because the papers I was grading really needed it."

"I'm sure there's an entire room full of red pens around here somewhere."

He carefully looked at everything but her as they walked which was just as well since Clara couldn't stop fidgeting with her towel. "I'll make a list."

"You can bring as much as you want with you...of course at some point you'll have to pick a room to keep it all in. Can't have papers and bathing suits just laying around everywhere."

Clara was not quite prepared or willing to have this conversation while wearing nothing but a towel but she knew there was only so many times she could avoid it. That she still hadn't committed to living on the TARDIS remained a sore point between them. She argued that her flat and her job were too important to completely give up and he argued that he could always get her back to the same moment she left. When she brought up his stories of accidentally leaving someone in the wrong town or bringing them back a year after he meant to he brushed them off. It got harder to argue with herself that the idea of spending every day with him wasn't the best idea which made arguing with him about it near impossible. One day she would say yes but that day still seemed a little far off. 

"I keep everything I bring with me very organized, Doctor. And it's not like I never take advantage of the fact there are bedrooms I can sleep in."

There were five rooms she circulated between, all close to the library. In the library she kept the school work she wasn't currently reviewing. On a desk in the control room she kept the stack of homework to be graded while the Doctor worked on whatever it was he worked on in there. It worked for her without feeling like too much too soon. She sometimes thought about telling the Doctor she was so bad at this sort of thing that during the entire time they were together she never kept more than a toothbrush at Danny's. But his name still got stuck in her throat every time she tried to say it so she never did. 

"Clara, the TARDIS isn't a hotel."

She just managed to keep her "Then why does it have so many bedrooms?" to herself. A compromise was the only way they were going to get past this and Clara could admit she felt ready to meet him in the middle. They stopped in front of the room her small bag of belongings was in and with some effort she looked up at him. He kept his eyes trained on her forehead. 

"I'll pick one room BUT I'm not giving up my flat and the first time you make me late for work we go back to once a week. Understood?"

"Understood."

"And I'll always be home for holidays. And Gran's birthday."

"Of course."

"I'm going to get changed now."

At that he just nodded. Clara kept a tight grip on her towel until she was alone in the room with the door shut behind her. She changed quickly and no words were exchanged between them until after she had been returned to her flat and re-entered the TARDIS an hour later with two overstuffed suitcases and a box full of books.

"Do I get to pick my room?"

The Doctor was engrossed by the screen in front of him and what the dial he was slowly turning was doing to the image. Clara not so patiently waited several seconds for him to answer before repeating the question.

"Yes, yes. Any room you want."

She visibly struggled to carry everything with her but the Doctor didn't stop to help and halfway down the first corridor Clara abandoned the suitcases. With only the box weighing her down she made her way towards the room she intended to claim as hers but stopped as she passed another set of doors. While she'd only seen him enter it once Clara knew the Doctor had a room of his own. Her brief glimpse as he entered revealed nothing but the shadow of a chair and as well as she knew him Clara was never able to comfortably imagine what the Doctor's bedroom might look like. She stood in front of it but her eyes moved back and forth between the doors to the left and right of it. Moving on nothing but intuition she entered the door to the right and was greeted by a room that seemed handpicked for her. The furniture suited her style but looked more comfortable than any she owned and there were even a few pieces of art on the wall that matched her preferred taste. She felt embraced and welcomed by the space and sighed in deep contentment. 

"Welcome home, Clara Oswald."

She spoke the words aloud assuming she was still alone. Unlike his earlier loud surprise entrance the Doctor corrected her assumption with a soft cough. She turned to see him standing there with her suitcases. 

"Excellent choice of room. Now you have ten minutes to unpack before we join a revolution."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos and comments on Chapter 1! I've decided to go with a Tuesday and Thursday posting schedule so look for new chapters on those days.


	3. Yes a heart should always go one step too far

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clara has a bad day made worse by the Doctor canceling their plans. Drunken phone calls ensue.
> 
> Set just before the Prologue.

Life with the Doctor coupled with a serious relationship followed by the loss of that serious relationship meant that Clara hadn't made many friends since she started teaching at Coal Hill. There was a small group of them that regularly met up for drinks after work but Clara only joined them sometimes. During that chaotic period when she barely managed to juggle the Doctor, Danny, and teaching she rarely saw them at all. For that reason it was with some guilt that she clung to them after Danny's death and what she thought was sending the Doctor home to Gallifrey. The entire group taught with Danny and missed him too so they were only too willing to keep her company and keep her spirits up. After awhile she started to truly see them as friends even if there was still so much she kept from them. 

When the Doctor reentered her life and they started traveling together again the distance between her and the group expanded. Lack of time was one reason even if the Doctor was usually on target with getting her back to London within minutes of when she left. Not being able to talk about anything was the main reason. There were only so many ways she could translate what she was really doing with her spare time into something that didn't make her sound crazy. It was after the fifth or sixth "Went out of town over the weekend to see a friend" that everyone assumed she met someone and out of respect for Danny's memory wasn't ready to talk about him yet. Clara didn't do anything to further lead them on in that assumption except for never denying it. She would simply smile, give a brief comment on how happy she was with life, and change the subject. 

That particular night she was supposed to be with the Doctor but he popped into her classroom at midday to tell her he needed to take care of something on his own and would be back in a few days. He rather conveniently did so in the middle of her teaching so there was no time or enough privacy to continue the conversation. Her entire day went downhill from there. Each class she taught was more unruly and undisciplined than the last and by the end of the day her entire body was tense from the stress. This was made worse by a call from her father to inform her that he and Linda were going to be in town for the weekend and hoped to stay with her. Clara hoped to be in another galaxy but without knowing what the Doctor was up to that seemed unlikely. 

"I'm just going to build my own TARDIS and go off on my own adventures and see a star be born all on my own. It can't be that hard. Who does everyone from Gallifrey think they are thinking they're the only ones who can build time machines. Marty McFly built one out of a car or actually I guess that was Doc. And of course if the Doctor was here he'd probably just tell me that Doc was actually supposed to be from Gallifrey. Really, Clara, his name is Doc. Doc. Doctor. Don't you see?"

"Uh, Clara? Who are you talking to and why did you say that last part in a Scottish accent?"

Clara was talking to the pile of papers she was grading and looked up in complete shock at the sound of another voice. Joe McPherson, one of the history teachers, stood in her doorway with a look of deep concern on his face. 

"No one. No, I just - rough day, Joe. Very rough day." She followed with a nervous laugh and even more nervous smile.

"Those are going around, at least among the teachers. We're all headed down to the pub in an hour. You in?"  
She thought through her options which were yes, no and go home to takeout and her neglected television, or no and somehow get the Doctor to pick her up. It was an easy decision to make because she never had the attention span for television anymore and she knew the Doctor too well. 

"I'm in."

A few hours later Clara sat perched on a bar stool that seemed to be spinning and wished she made a different choice. The stress of the day and her disappointment at not being able to shake it off several galaxies away from the current one crashed down on her the second she stepped in the pub. Normally she stuck to beer or wine, a wild night was one in which she had a beer first and then a couple glasses of wine. If it was someone's birthday she would maybe do a shot. That night she decided she was a scotch drinker. She was three in and a handful of shots and everything felt a little fuzzy. She wasn't dangerously drunk but the last shot tipped her into the phase of a night out when everything was no longer fun. Conversation were happening around her and occasionally she would nod at something someone but for the most part she kept very quiet and still. The plan was to stop drinking, sober up enough to call a cab, and go home. The plan kept getting interrupted because she couldn't complete the first part of it. 

"Is that Scotch because you're new man is Scottish?" "Clara?"

The realization that she was being asked something slowly dawned on her. 

"I'm sorry, is my what a what?"

Mary, at least Clara thought her name was Mary, it was possibly Elizabeth, laughed. "Your students have eyes you know. And mouths. A few of them have been spreading rumours about this new man who keeps popping around your classroom and is real eager to impress them."

"No, no. He's just like that with everyone. Nothing to do with me." Clara stopped waving her hand as she said that because she was quite sure she didn't have four of them on one arm. There was one time when the Doctor barely stopped her before she consumed a drink that would have done just that to her body so she couldn't be sure. She was sure that the decision to not drink anything on other planets was a good one and that maybe Earth needed to be added to that list. 

"So you do have a boyfriend?"

"I have a...Doctor!" The last word was directed at her phone because she looked down just as a call from him came through. 

"He's a doctor? Good for you, Clara Oswald."

"No, just no. Shut up. I have to take this." She hit the answer button, "Doctor, hold on. I need to get somewhere quiet."

Clara stumbled off the bar stool and headed towards the entrance. Walking was a challenge but she managed to make it outside and find a quiet spot between the pub and the shop next to it. 

"Doctor, are you still there?"

"I'm here. Am I interrupting something?"

She started to shake her head but any sort of movement in that region of her body immediately felt like a bad idea. "No, just out."

"Oh. Were you...you weren't...I mean...was it a date? Is it a date?"

"What? No. I'm just down at the pub with coworkers. Why would I be on a date? Why would I answer the phone on a date?"

Clara knew him so well that she could picture the exact superior expression on his face as he spoke. "Clara, I would hope something as a silly as a date wouldn't stop you from answering your phone. The universe could be in danger."

"Is the universe in danger, Doctor? Because I have to be very honest with you and say that I don't think I can help save it tonight. I don't want to go into details but I can't."

"You're drunk."

"How dare you! How - how did you know? Are you here?" She slowly moved her head from side to side but even that was too much so she walked over and gently sat herself down on a nearby bench. 

"You're slurring every other word and just told me you were at a pub. But don't worry the universe is fine. I felt bad that we weren't able to talk more earlier so I wanted to call and say I'm sorry I had to cancel our plans."

Clara wondered for a moment if this was dream. As soon as she thought that she felt bad because while the Doctor calling to apologize wasn't a regular thing he had made more of a effort lately. 

"Oh, well, apology accepted. You just have to make it up to me later. Dad and Linda are coming for the weekend which will be extra unbearable now that I won't be sneaking off with you."

The Doctor laughed. "You shouldn't be sneaking off on your father like that, Clara Oswald."

Something about the way he said it made Clara blush. There was a couple making out on the bench across from her and Clara let her mind wander. If the Doctor picked her up on a Saturday morning he landed the TARDIS in her bedroom and she was always ready, already dressed and packed with coffee and pastries for both of them. But maybe just once she would stay in bed until he arrived and let him come to her. Would he do it? Would he join her under the covers and give her the one adventure she craved more than any other with each passing day? As she watched the couple press closer together Clara let herself believe he would because he wanted it too. 

"I only did that once, snuck off on my father." Her voice was low and a little breathless as she spoke. "It was a few months after my mother died and I wanted to feel something that wasn't sadness or anger. I called my boyfriend at ten at night and told him I was coming over and I did. I managed to get out of my house and into his with no parent ever knowing it happened. We spent the whole night curled up on his bed, kissing and touching and promising to stay together forever. He dumped me a month later for someone who wasn't grieving their mother but that night was magical."

"Clara, I-"

"Everyone thinks you're my boyfriend."

There was a long pause. She wondered if he hung up or if the connection was lost. Finally she heard him clear his throat. "Who is everyone?"

"Everyone. My students and that really is your fault for coming around all the time and being so nice to them. And they're telling the other teachers who already thought something was going on because I never talk about what I do outside of school. Gran keeps saying I sound happier."

Clara didn't know how much time and space currently separated them but the distance between them felt heavy during the next long pause. "Should I stop coming around the school?"

Even through the phone Clara could tell that wasn't what he meant to or wanted to say. That one sober brain cell buried under all the not so sober ones told her that wasn't the time or place to have this conversation. The best she could do that night was stumble towards more of the truth than usual. 

"No and no, don't worry. But I just have to say that I'm not going to deny it. It's just easier for them all to think that instead of me having to explain everything else. Older, Scottish boyfriend is a much better rumour than time traveling alien friend."

"Do you expect me to bring flowers and chocolates to help with their assumptions?"

She laughed and hugged an arm around herself as thought about what flowers from a boyfriend would translate to coming from the Doctor. "Yes, but only because I love flowers and chocolates."

"Or I could give you a ride home. You are in no shape to be out by yourself."

When she heard the sound of the TARDIS materialize in front of her Clara didn't believe it until the Doctor's arm was around her and he carefully helped her off the bench. She leaned against him from the second she stood until the second he led her into her bedroom in her flat and sat her down on her bed. She managed to get her shoes and coat off before the need to sink into the mattress overwhelmed her. 

"Doctor, why am I here? I thought the whole point of my other bedroom was so that I didn't have to come back here. I can sleep this off on the TARDIS and be all ready for a very quiet, very slow adventure in the morning." 

He wandered into her bathroom as she spoke and emerged with a glass of water and three tiny pills which he placed on her bedside table. 

"What I tried to say earlier today and again over the phone is that I have to go away for awhile and I have to go alone. I'm sorry to leave you here with your hangover and your Dad coming-"

"-Oh my God, Dad's coming in the morning. Doctor, I demand you take me." She struggled to sit up and make a run for the TARDIS but her limbs wouldn't cooperate. 

The Doctor kneeled in front of her and held her in a sitting position with his arms. "Clara, please listen. I don't know how long I'll be gone but if I can I'll make this up to you."

"When."

"I'm sorry?"

"You said if you can. You meant when you can."

He bowed his head and she took the opportunity to run her fingers through his hair. It felt incredibly relaxing to her and must have to him because she saw his shoulders drop. 

"When, of course. That's what I said."

"I must have misheard." She didn't think she had but she also didn't trust her own thoughts at the moment. A deep fatigue overwhelmed her and the need to crawl under her covers was about to do the same. "It's bed time for me, Doctor. Go take care of what you have to." 

He slowly stood and moved towards the TARDIS only to be stopped by a shout of "Oh!" from Clara. "Wait, I almost forgot. Did you get that book I asked you for?"

"No, I'm sorry, Clara. I never found the shop." It must have a trick of the lighting or her own exhausted mind but Clara thought he looked unspeakably sad as he spoke. 

"That's fine, Doctor. It's just a book. Bring it next time."

His only response was a nod and by the time Clara was undressed and in bed her only real memory of the night was how soft his hair felt between her fingers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay in posting. Work is preventing me from setting a set posting schedule at the moment but my goal is still at least two chapters posted a week.


End file.
